About 2 years ago I received tubes of silver 1oz rounds in trade, but I didn't want to keep them a part of a stack as I really disliked their design. I offered my landscaper 3 of the rounds in lieu of a month's payment, knowing he was into the theme behind the design, and I was right. He was stoked to make the trade and we've been exchanging 3oz every month since. At the time, 3ozs was the USD amount of the monthly bill. Flash forward to this weekend when it was time to settle up for this month. Silver spot price is over $42 and the rounds are now about $45. Those 3ozs of silver are "worth" in USD substantially more than the USD invoice price of his services. HOWEVER, my landscaper hasn't "profited" like the IRS thinks he has, nor have I been ripped off. Instead, the USD had continued its march into oblivion and we have both been able to preserve our purchasing power despite the runaway inflation, as I have been swapping USD for his rounds continuously since I knew this was now our medium of exchange. The moral of the story: swap your USD for real money early and often, as the DC printing press is *never* turning off. P.S. I was going to try to get him onto goldbacks instead of silver quite a while back, but I learned he's been using the rounds to decorate belts he makes for his grandchildren.
